Our
correspondent's personal guide to the city where Arabs and Israelis somehow
have to find a way to get along

Orthodox jewish man is going towards the Western wall in the Muslim quarter of the Old city of Jerusalem, Israel, on the eve of Sabbath, November 16, 2007.

The real estate agent who showed me my apartment pointed out the views of Mount Zion, ringed by cypress trees, and the walled Old City with its minarets and church spires piercing the blue Jerusalem sky. But she neglected to say that the apartment had a drawback: its proximity to hell. A few hundred paces downhill, and you are in the Valley of Hinnom, where Muslims, Jews and Christians all believe that on Judgment Day, the gates of hell will open up as sinners go tumbling into the flaming vortex.